


Everything Has Changed

by shiptoomuch



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, McCoy is first officer, Spock is a doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 20:24:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1009687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiptoomuch/pseuds/shiptoomuch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Spock was the doctor Jim met on the shuttle and McCoy was the straight-laced first officer under Captain Pike?<br/>ST09 rewritten with that crazy idea.<br/>Canon divergence to the extreme.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything Has Changed

**Author's Note:**

> yeah this is really really really weird  
> unbeta'd

“If my observations are correct, and I assume they are, there is a sixty-seven percent chance you will either vomit or lose consciousness on me during this shuttle flight. As this would be most unpleasant for both of us, I recommend that you take this.” The Vulcan who had taken the seat next to Jim holds out a hand, in which there is a small white tablet. Jim eyes it questioningly and gives the Vulcan a quizzical look.

“Are you a doctor or something?” Jim feels his words slur together as they slide fluidly off his tongue.

The Vulcan nods. “Indeed. My name is Spock.” He nods towards his hand, “If you do not wish to take the pill, I can administer a hypospray.”

Jim shudders and takes the pill. He dry swallows the tablet and is shocked to feel a hypospray pressed to his neck. “What the hell, man? I took the pill!” Jim is met with a raised eyebrow.

“Hydration.”

Jim takes this s a valid excuse and shrugs. He looks around the shuttle, sizing up the cadets. He winks at no-first-name Uhura and Cupcake, both of whom roll their eyes at him. Jim chuckles and notices Spock staring at Uhura. “Enjoying the view, Spocko?”

“Who is that young woman?” Jim notices a faint green coloring on Spock’s pointed ears as he makes eye contact with the pretty cadet.

“My name is Uhura. Nyota Uhura.”

“You’ll tell him your first name?” Jim tries to suppress a grin and keep up a face of indignation, “Unbelievable.”

Nyota smiles wickedly and winks at Jim. “Don’t pretend you’re upset. We all know you’re incredibly amused.” She turns back to Spock, “So, what’s your name?” 

“Spock.” The doctor sits stiffly in his seat when he answers and this makes Nyota laugh for some reason.

“I cannot believe a Vulcan is better at picking up girls that I am.” Jim sighs melodramatically and throws his hands up in exasperation. “So, Spock. What brings you to Starfleet? Don’t Vulcans usually avoid us like the plague?”

“It was logical for me to come here after finishing my medical training. It will be fascinating to see the medical phenomena across the Galaxy.” Spock’s monotone voice calms Jim and makes him feel surer than he had upon entering the shuttle full of cadet reds. Jim sits a bit taller in his seat as the shuttle takes off with a small bump.

“My name’s Jim. Jim Kirk.” He holds out his hand for Spock to shake. The Vulcan takes it with trepidation.

xXx

Jim runs to catch up with Spock and holds his hand up for a high five which his friend returns. Spock’s girlfriend, the very same Uhura that got Jim beat up in that dive in Iowa, rolls her eyes and scoffs loudly. “I cannot believe you cheated, Kirk.” She scowls and Spock’s left eyebrow makes an escape attempt towards his hairline.

“I agree. It was an unwise decision, Jim. The repercussions may be more sever than you realize.” 

Jim laughs and shakes off their comments. He tucks his books under his arm. “Come on! It’s the unbeatable test! Whoever programs it is a sick bastard and deserves to be knocked down a few pegs.” He grins. “And you know I don’t accept no-win scenarios. Come on, I’m buying drinks tonight. Chocolate for you, Doc Spock. We’re gonna have fun tonight!” JIm whoops and pumps his fist in the air. Spock’s mouth quirks up a bit at the corners. (Jim swears it counts as a smile.) Nyota chuckles for a split second before remembering she’s supposed to be angry with Jim and she coughs to cover it up.

The three of them walk a bit further, being stopped constantly to receive congratulations from other cadets who have somehow heard about their victory already. Jim grins and winks and flirts with every thing that has a pulse and comes within a five meter radius of him. Several first year boys look like they might faint when Jim shoots them ‘the look.’ Nyota swears she hears one of the flustered boys mutter “I swear, I’m straight.” before they walk away.

“I need to go study for my xenolinguistics final. I’ll see you all later.” Nyota kisses Spock’s cheek and glares at Jim playfully. Jim cackles and she breaks into a grin, giving him a one-armed hug.  
“Yeah, go put that talented tongue to use.” Jim is met by raised eyebrows and a death glare that makes him laugh harder. “Oh! I wouldn’t go back to your room for a few hours, by the way. I’ve got to...do something for Gaila as a thank you.” Jim winks and Nyota mimes throwing up before walking away.

Spock speaks up finally, “I am assuming you persuaded Miss Gaila to program a subroutine into the Kobayashi program using sexual favors?”

“Something like that. I could’ve done it myself but she’s much better than me at that kind of thing.”

Spock nods curtly and turns on his heel to walk away in the same direction as Uhura, his posture rigid. Several cadets scatter as he walks forward. Jim’s face splits into a smile. He’s got the best friends in the world.

xXx

He goes down on Gaila with all of the skill that he normally does with the added bonus of him being extremely grateful when he does it. She comes with a scream that rips it way from her throat loudly. JIm grins and nurses her through it before sitting up. “Thanks for helping me out, Gaila. You seriously earned that.”

The green skinned girl grins lazily and laughs. “I know I did.” She ruffles JIm’s hair and sits up on her bed, picking up her padd and checking her messages.

Jim starts putting on his clothes slowly, still feeling loose and lethargic after the three orgasms Gaila managed to wring out of him. He hears a frustrated groan and his head snaps up. “What? I’ve got things to do, Gaila and not everyone has the stamina of an Orion.”

“No, not that. They’re calling an emergency meeting of our class tomorrow after finals. Honestly, what could possible be so important that they’re dragging an entire class of exhausted cadets into a meeting right after the biggest tests of their lives?” Gaila flops down face first and shouts a series of curse words in Orion into her mattress. JIm pets her red curls.

“Don’t worry, G. You’ll probably be able to sleep through it.” He slips on his shoes and leaves the room, sure to punch in the locking code behind him. 

When he reaches his and Spock’s room, he finds Nyota and Spock curled up together on Spock’s bed in their underwear reading a padd together. The fact that Spock can manage to remain stony faced even when basking in the afterglow with a girl who is clearly the love of his life never ceases to amaze Jim. 

“I see the studying went well. I got food.” He drops the bag of chinese takeout in front of them. “Eat up. I won’t have you drinking on an empty stomach. It’s unhealthy, right Spocktor?”

Spock nods solemnly and starts to explain the risks of alcohol poisoning from drinking with an empty stomach but Jim shuts him up before he can go into much detail. Uhura shoots him a grateful look and starts digging into the white cartons of food. “Thanks, Jim.”

“Anything for you, Ny.” He sits down on the bed and sighs. “Did you hear about the meeting they’ve called for tomorrow? I wonder what it’s all about.”

xXx

“James Tiberius Kirk.” Jim goes through everything that he’s done in the past month in his head and comes up empty. He’s been laying relatively low. With finals and impending graduation, he’s been too preoccupied to pull anything or get in any fights. The only person he’d even slept with in the past month was Gaila. The Kobayashi Maru took up a lot of time.

Oh.

The goddamn Kobayashi.

Jim had taken a chance and he guesses the consequences are catching up with him. It was to be expected, but it was so damn fast. The words the admiral is saying finally register and he speaks making sure to keep his voice steady. “Yes, I believe I have the right to face my accuser.” He wants to know the guy who caused all of this.

He turns and sees a man stand up. Dark brown hair and a scowl that Jim assumes is his permanent facial expression. Just from one look, JIm can tell he’s the polar opposite of Spock in every way possible.

He can also see that this is probably the most attractive man he’s ever seen. He has eyes, and this man, this dick who programmed the hardest test known to man, is hot. Jim has a problem with it. “You must be the guy who got me into this mess.” Jim speaks as the man reaches his podium finally, resting his hands lazily on the podium.

“Oh and how did I get you into this?” There is a definite southern drawl lingering on the edges of his voice. Jim hates him even more.

“You reported me for passing.”

“You cheated and failed to grasp the lesson that the test tries to teach, thus showing all of us that you are immature, infantile, and not prepared to be flung off into space. If you had accepted defeat the first time, you would have been much better off, Cadet Kirk.” The man’s tone is biting and sharp, softened slightly by his accent and it makes Jim have to suppress a shiver. He feels the man’s sharp but warm hazel eyes glaring holes into him. Jim smiles and flashes his eyes in the way he knows to do to get hopeless cadets and townies alike into his bed. He searches for a response but only finds a slight flash of something undefinable in those eyes before he returns to his previous hardness.

“Well mister...” Jim looks to him for a name.

“McCoy. Commander McCoy.”

“Well, Commander McCoy, I don’t believe in no-win scenarios. I personally believe that your test is illegitimate and should not be used at all as it is merely a sick joke. It exists purely to cause feelings of failure and fear.”

With those words, Jim gets what he wants, McCoy’s shoulders tense up and he narrows his eyes as his scowl deepens. (Something Jim hadn’t thought possible, but there it is.) His voice rings out, loud and angry in the room that has grown silent save for the two of them. “Let’s get one thing straight, Kirk.” He spits out Jim’s name as if it is poison in his mouth, “The test is designed to teach the principle of maintaining control of your vessel in dire and even hopeless situations. It is designed to test the way a man or woman can function under the feeling of fear and the certainty that there is no way they can succeed. You failed to grasp the lesson which is ironic given the fact that you of all people should know that a captain can’t always come out on top. A captain cannot cheat death. Don’t blame me or the test. Blame yourself for being too much of a child to grasp the concept.” Thick tension hangs in the air as McCoy finishes speaking. Jim feels his heart hammering out a heavy beat in his chest and he digs his nails into the podium. He fights to keep control but knows he has failed when he sees the pleased look on McCoy’s face.

The trial is interrupted by a yeoman entering the room in a hurry and handing Admiral Komack a padd. He scans it for a moment and everyone seems to be holding their breath for a reason they do not understand until Komack speaks finally, announcing that Vulcan sent out a distress signal and that all cadets are required to report to the hangars to be assigned to a ship. Dead pools in Jim’s stomach as he searches the bustling crowd of red for SPock. He finds the Vulcan looking worried in his own way that only Jim and Nyota could ever truly notice and pick up on. Jim speaks quickly to his best friend, offering assurances and asking if he is okay. “Are you sure you’re fine? Seriously, Spock. If anyone has a right to an emotional response right now, it is you.”

“James. I am fine. Starfleet will be able to handle whatever emergency is taking place on Vulcan, I am certain. The more pressing matter here is how you will be punished for cheating on Commander McCoy’s test.”

“Yeah. Who even was that scowling dick?” Jim shrugs and walks toward the area where he has been directed to receive assignment. He feels a small amount of nervous energy nagging at the edges of his brain but brushes it off as being a result of his first assignment.

“Doctor Spock to the Enterprise.”

“Cadet Uhura to the Enterprise.”

The man finishes reading names and walks away from the group of cadets that are now scattering to get on the correct shuttles. Jim follows him. “Sir! Sir, you didn’t call my name. Kirk, James T.”

“Kirk you are on academic suspension. That means you’re grounded.” The man tucks his padd under his arm and walks away. Jim’s heart sinks through his shoes. He’s not going into space and it’s all commander fucking McCoy’s fault. Anger at the man burns deep inside of Jim.

“I must report for duty, Jim. I apologize.”

“Yeah, it’s alright. Go.”

Spock raises and eyebrow and says shortly, “Come with me.”

Spock leads him to a med pod and retrieves a few items off of the shelves. “What are you doing?” Spock ignores him and puts a few chemicals together and hypos Jim, who shrieks a few octaves higher than he’d ever like to admit.

“That vaccination should cause side effects such as loss of vision in your left eye and a headache. I apologize but it is the only way to get you onto the Enterprise.” He takes hold of Jim’s arm and pulls him out of the med pod and towards the shuttle. Jim stumbles and slurs behind him and is reminded of the first time they met. An officer tries to stop them, citing Jim’s suspension but Spock speaks up luckily, seeing hoy Jim is beginning to believe someone replaced his tongue with a dead Cardassian slug.

“This man is experiencing symptoms of extreme illness. As his primary physician, I am entitled to the right of deciding how and where he is treated. Either you let us board, or you will be held responsible by Captain Pike for the absence of one of his senior medical officers during a mission of such importance.” Spock turns on his full Vulcan intimidation techniques as he confronts the officer, who steps out of the way and mumbles. SPock leads Jim onto the shuttle and fastens him into the seat next to him. He checks Jim’s vitals with a pocket tricorder and seems to be satisfied. Jim feels like his everything is melting slowly.

The shuttle takes off with a small lurch and Jim feels as though his stomach will turn inside out at the slightest bump. He groans and leans back in his seat, praying that this will all be worth it. “I may throw up on you.”

Spock either ignores him or doesn’t care. He sits straight, staring out of the window. “Jim, you may want to see this.” Jim looks out of the window and vaguely thinks that, yes, all those starships docked like that is probably one of the most amazing and beautiful things he has ever seen. He then starts to feel like his eyeballs are sweating and it is forgotten.

Spock drags him into medbay and starts messing with a bunch of bottles and various hyposprays until he finds the one he was apparently looking for. He checks the dosage before stabbing Jim in the neck with it. “Hey, what wa-” Jim sees Spock’s stern face set like it usually is before everything goes black.

“A lightning storm in space.” Jim jerks upright and gasps.

“James, I must ask you to lay back down as you seem to be experiencing a severe reaction to the vaccination.” Spock gestures down to Jim’s hands, which have swollen like balloons. Jim nearly screams but instead jumps out of bed.

“Spock! Come on!” Jim yells and the Vulcan Doctor walks behind him with his usual stiff gait. He is now dressed in a blue shirt and black pants rather than his cadet reds. “I need to get to the bridge. I need to see Pike.”

“I would not advise that, Jim, as Commander McCoy is also onboard as the first officer and you are not supposed to be aboard the Enterprise.” He tries to stop him, but Jim races off and around the corner to a computer. He pulls up the video of the weird foreign kid who gave the announcement. He watches the last part and his head starts working in over drive. Yes, they definitely said lightning storm in space. His mind turns to what Nyota told him the previous night, about the Romulan attack on the Klingons. He knows the two events had to be connected to each other and to the events of the day of his birth.

Jim dashes to the lower communications department and grabs Uhura (her eyes rest for a moment on his massively swollen hands but she says nothing) before printing to the bridge. “You need to stop, now. You’re heading directly towards a disaster at warp speed.”

Pike stands up from his chair and McCoy advances, looking ready to go in for the kill. Luckily, it is Pike who speaks first, “kirk, I do believe you have had enough attention for today.”

“No, Sir! It’s Romulans!”

“Romulans?” McCoy splutters, “What the hell is this kid talking about?” Pike, however, seems intrigued.

Spock steps forward at this moment, “Captain, cadet Kir is under the influence of a severe reaction to a medical treatment if you would allow me to-”

“No! That lighting storm in space happened on the day of my birth.” He turns imploringly to Pike. “Please. I read your dissertation and I know you know this is not a coincidence. Uhura reported an attack in Klingon space. A massive Romulan ship in Klingon space!” Pike asks Uhura if this is correct and she confirms it. At that moment, the ship leaves warp near Vulcan and several gasps ring out as the screen displays the ruins of the other ships that had arrived mere minutes before them. Twisted metal and broken piece of hull float around them and no one speaks. The lives of most of the cadets: lost. A few shuttles flee then scene. Jim finds himself praying to any deity that will listen that Gaila is on one of those shuttles.

“Sir, I am not sure I can distinguish between Romulan and Vulcan.” The lieutenant working the communications panel says this and is replaced quickly by Nyota, who states that all communications and transporters are jammed by the drilling device that the Romulans have lowered are now using on Vulcan. They are hailed by the Romulan captain, Nero is his name, and Pike is summoned to their ship. Jim desperately wants to stop him, to tell him he cannot bear to lose another father but he knows nothing will stop the captain.

“Who here has training in advanced hand-to-hand?” The pilot raises his hand and is told to come with Pike. “Kirk, come on. You’re not supposed to be here, anyway.” They set off down the hall and Jim catches Spock’s eye as they pass each other. The Vulcan is nervous, displaying concern in his own way that Jim has grown to be able to recognize. Jim wants to reach out, to comfort him but he knows he has more important things to do.

“Are you out of your damn mind? They’ll kill you, Captain. I cannot let you do this!” McCoy steps in front of them, trying to stop Pike from leaving. His stance is firm but his eyes betray his worry.

“I’m not captain anymore. You are, Leonard.” He turns to Jim, who straightens under his gaze. “Jim, I’m promoting you to first officer. Let’s go.” They walk away from McCoy who is stuck still for a few moments muttering to himself before he snaps back into form and Jim sees him become a Captain. His gait is strong and quick as he walks back toward the bridge. Jim feels his breathing catch. It had been like a switch flipped in the first-officer-now-captain and everything but Starfleet and duty had turned off.

Pike sends them down to turn off the drill and Olson is lost because of his failure to open the chute on time. Jim feels a pang of loss for the man he never knew and would never get the chance to know. He watches as Sulu’s chute gets caught and for a moment Jim worries that he may be the only one to survive this. Sulu cuts himself free, though, just as several Romulans come out to defend their ship.

They fight them off easily enough and disable the drill in a matter of minutes. Jim is comming for transport when Sulu falls off the platform. Without a second thought, Jim leaps off the drill and dives towards Sulu, making himself more aerodynamic to speed his fall. His chute breaks after he has reached sulu and shouts come through the comm before gold bands surround them and they are landing on the floor of the transporter room. Jim lets out a sigh of relief and almost starts crying when he sees that Sulu is alive too.

“Doctor! I can’t let you do this! It’s madness!” McCoy storms into the transporter room, following a Spock who looks more determined than Jim has ever seen him as he demands that Sulu and Jim clear the pad.

“Spock! What are you doing?” Jim turns to McCoy for answers.

“Our lovely CMO has decided he must beam down to the surface of a planet that has only minutes before it becomes a fucking black hole!” Spock nods to the engineer working the transporter and he disappears. McCoy groans and turns on Jim. “You and your damn best friend are more trouble than you are worth! I don’t care if he’s the best doctor in the fleet and you’re a hero’s son! You’re never where you should be and you never follow any goddamn orders or rules!” He yells and the room is silent save for his heavy breathing. His eyes are fiery and Jim cannot tear his gaze away from him. As much as he knows he should probably hate McCoy for getting him suspended and for insulting Spock and himself, something in Jim can’t bring himself to do it. Something about the way the commander carries himself screams something deeper than what lays on the surface. McCoy is a good man, Jim can tell.

He’s also the most gorgeous person Jim has ever met.

A few minutes pass in silence as they wait for Spock and the council to beam up. When they do arrive, there is shouting coming from the Russian kid (Chekov is his name, Jim thinks.) One less person appears than they expected. Spock’s arm is still extended in a final grab for his mother as he materializes. The few times JIm got the Vulcan to open up at the academy, he spoke of his human mother and how she influenced his choices. To lose her like that..to lose his whole planet in one go...Spock must be in distress, though Jim knows he’ll never show it.

He looks over to McCoy and the Captain has turned a deathly pale. “Vulcan is..” He swallows thickly and rolls his shoulders. “Vulcan is gone. I am so sorry, Mister Spock, Council, but you are all now members of an endangered species.”

The transporter room is completely silent as McCoy walks out, followed closely by Kirk. They walk quickly, Jim only a few steps behind McCoy. HIs mind is churning with possible scenarios that could possible play out. “McCoy. We have to get back to Earth.”

McCoy stops dead in his tracks. They’ve reached the bridge and everyone is looking to McCoy for commands. “What the hell are you getting at, kid? We’ve got orders to report to the nearest starbase and that’s where we are going.”

Jim squares his shoulders and McCoy is still broader than him “You know they’re going to attack Earth after this! We cannot just let them do it! If we get there before they can, Earth will have a fighting chance! The Federation will have a fighting chance!”

McCoy laughs derisively, “What are you going to do? Fight off Nero with your bare hands?” He leers at Jim, a sick smile twisting his face as me steps close to his first officer and his voice drops. “That Romulan can and will break every bone in your body and he will enjoy doing it.” He steps back and raises his voice back to it’s normal volume. “And not even Spock will be able to save you. So, if you want to fight him, be my guest. It’s suicide, but you be my guest.”

Jim turns around as Spock enters the bridge, holding a medkit and walking purposefully toward Jim. “I must perform a physical seeing how you were just engaged in a confrontation.” 

Jim waves him off and stalks over to McCoy who is now seated in the Captain’s chair. “You cannot simply ignore this! This is the fate of our home at stake! You’re the captain, do something!” He screams at McCoy, who stands up, fists clenched. “Do you not even care about what happens down there? I bet you have no one down there who even cares about you, you must be all alone. That’s why you don’t care, isn’t it?”

“Don’t you dare say a word about my life! You know nothing about it and I don’t want you to. So please, shut your mouth before I am forced to kick you off of my ship.”

“Be a captain! Do the right thing.”

McCoy speaks quietly to a security officer and soon several officers grab Jim by the arms. He fights them off, taking them out one by one. He turns to face McCoy and is met with the sight of the dark haired man wielding a hypo spray he obviously stole from Spock’s kit. Jim’s last thought before he blacks out is that McCoy looks like he really knows how to use it.

“Remain in your pod until authorities-” The mechanical voice speaks smoothly and Jim scoffs, climbing out of the small compartment.

“Yeah, fuck that.” He hoists himself out of the hole made by the pod and grabs the black bag and throws it over his shoulder before trekking through the ice and snow of Delta Vega.

He looks around and spies something running toward him. His instincts shout at him to run, but a part of him wants to see what the beast looks like. So he stays in place.

When it roars and Jim can see teeth nearly a foot long, Jim’s legs kick into gear and he runs as fast as he can. A red beast larger than the first appears seemingly out of nowhere and kills it. Jim experiences a split second of relief before he comes to the realization that it has now directed its focus on him.

He sprints away and tumbles down an icy cliff. Jim struggles to stand on the ice as the monster chases him into a cave. He thinks he is surely done for when a man steps out of nowhere and waves a fiery stick at the beast. It runs off as the man yells and waves his torch. Jim stares in awe at the man, who lowers his hood.

The man seems floored for a moment. His face is lined from an obviously very long life and his hair is white. His mouth opens and closes once before he turns around and starts walking away quickly, shouting, “Spock! You are not going to believe this, you logical bastard!” Jim stands in place and watches the old man walk away. The man stops and looks behind himself and raises an eyebrow at Jim. It is painfully familiar but Jim cannot place where he’s seen this man before. “Well, aren’t you coming? Or would you rather freeze?”

Jim nods and hurries after him, catching up quickly despite that this man moves quickly for his age. “Wait, did you say Spock?” He grabs the man’s arm. “Did Spock get sent here by that hardass, McCoy, too?”

The man turns on JIm, whirling around with fire in his eyes and suddenly he looks both older and younger all at once. “Kid, what the hell are you calling Leonard McCoy a hardass for?”

Leonard. His name is Leonard. “You know that jackass?”

“Kid, I am that jackass.” His eyes soften and he smiles a bit. “Where do you get off calling your best friend a hardass bastard?”

Jim tries to tell this obviously senile old man that there is no way he’s Leonard McCoy and that Spock is his best friend when another old man appears, this one definitely familiar.

“You’re Spock.” Jim says and his mouth hangs open in shock. “I don’t know how, but you’re Spock.”

“Your powers of observation astound me.” Spock- Jim is still confused about this much older version of his best friend- raises an eyebrow and Jim cackles.

“You just made a joke!” He pulls Spock into a one-armed hug. “You’re an awesome old Vulcan.”

The other man, who claims to be McCoy, scowls. “You recognize the green-blooded hobgoblin but not me? We’re best friends, we’re-” he cuts off, his cheeks flushing. “You know.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know, old man. There is no way you could be Commander-or I guess it’s Captain now- McCoy. That guy is awful.” He laughs and claps ‘McCoy’ on the back. “You seem nice enough, though. Any friend of Spock’s is a friend of mine.”

“Captain McCoy?” The man splutters. “Not Doctor? I’m not CMO of the Enterprise?”

“No, that’d be Spock.”

“NO THAT MOST CERTAINLY WOULD NOT BE.”

JIm wonders what the old man is raving about. Spock is the CMO...surely if he was really McCoy he would know that. “How are you even here, Spock, and who is your friend really?”

Spock considers this for a moment before launching into a story about how he and ‘Doctor McCoy’ (Jim has to admit it has a certain ring to it) were on a mission together to go to Anteres VI where McCoy would deliver a plague vaccine. On their way, however, they had to stop the super nova of the star near Romulus. It was too late, however, and though they were able to create a black hole to prevent future destruction, Romulus was already gone.

“Two ships were pulled in by the black hole that day. First was Nero. He came out of the black hole twenty five years ago. What was twenty five years ago, however, was mere seconds for us. Nero told us he’d make us pay. He took our ship and made Spock watch the destruction of Vulcan and now he’s going to destroy Earth, Jimmy.” Leonard finishes the story for Spock, who is suddenly overcome.

“James, this is indeed Doctor McCoy. It would seem he is not a doctor in your universe but this is Leonard. Your dearest companion and friend.” Spock says slowly and surely.

“Spock is my best friend, not Leonard McCoy.”

Leonard starts swearing under his breath. “Spock, you stole my goddamned husband!” He stands. “You green blooded bastard I could kill you. My Jimmy hates me.” He sits down again and buries his face in his hands. “I thought it was bad when he- when he died. But this? This is like nothing I have ever felt in my entire life.”

Jim’s head spins with the new information. “Husband?”

Hands are on his face and suddenly Jim is submerged in memories that are not his own. Jim smiling with his arm wrapped around McCoy, who is sporting a matching grin. Jim taking McCoy’s hand gently and crying before being wrapped up in the arms of a doctor who is not a doctor to him. He sees himself laughing hysterically at something the other man says. The two standing on the bridge, talking quietly and linking their fingers loosely. The memories-Spock’s memories, Jim assumes- flash by one after another until finally...there is a wedding. His own wedding. He sees his older self grin and say, “I do, Bones.”

Spock’s hand leaves his face and Jim is back on the icy planet again. he nearly falls over before turning and throwing up in a pile of snow. He sits down on the ground and stares up at Spock, feeling an awful lot like a helpless child asking for help from his parent.

A hand is placed gently on his forehead and Jim jumps when he realizes that Leonard is in front of him, looking very concerned. He scoots away from the touch and pulls his knees to his chest, tucking his head between them. “What the hell did you do to him, Spock?” The man’s voice is quiet and considerably less angry.

“I merely confirmed to him that which you said was true. He knows now what his relationship with Leonard McCoy could be in his timeline.” Spock shrugs, actually shrugs.

“Why did I call you Bones?” The words escape Jim’s lips and he wonders why that question, out of every question in his mind, is the one that escaped. It seems more relevant than anything else, for some reason.

Leonard cuckles lightly. “It’s what you always called me. ‘Cuz I was an old Sawbones.” He stands up and offers a hand to Jim, who takes it with trepidation. He stands and shivers at the feeling of melting snow like icy fingers running down his legs.

Spock leads them out into the snow towards the Starfleet outpost. Jim hands slightly behind them, avoiding the glances sent his way. This version of McCoy is clearly quite upset about Jim’s attitude towards his ‘Bones’ but in this universe, it seems that Leonard McCoy is a completely different person, different goals, different past, different outlook on life. Different opinion of Jim.

The group reaches the building. Jim struggles to pull the door shut behind them. A small (man?) officer greets them and brings them back to a room with mechanisms in disrepair and a man leaning on the back legs of his chair.

“Montgomery Scott!” Leonard yells and the man falls out of his chair onto the floor.

“Oi! Are you fucking insane, lads? Ye cannae sneak up on a man like that when he’s napping!” He pulls himself to his feet with the help of an offered hand from Jim. “Are you the relief from the fleet? You’re mighty late.”

Jim sticks his hand out for a shake. “Jim. Jim Kirk. I’m afraid we’re not replacements, just stranded.”

“Pity. I was hopin’ to get a sandwich.” Scott’s face changes for a moment as he assesses the group. “Kirk.” The man shakes his hand and tilts his head to the side. “Well, that name sounds familiar, but I cannot place it.”

-

“What do you mean, I can’t tell him?” Jim nearly screams in frustration. “How am I supposed to get him out of The Chair any other way?”

McCoy shrugs and laughs, an eyebrow raised sardonically. “You always came up with such interesting ways to throw me off. If I’m in that chair and Vulcan has just been destroyed, I’m probably stressed out. All you have to do is push him a little, he’ll leave.” With a wink, he nods to Scotty, who pushes in the coordinates and jumps on the pad.

-

Cupcake’s hand is unnecessarily tight around his upper arm and Jim supposes hi deserves it at least a little when he sees the purple under the other security officers’ eyes from his punches. Cupcake’s is the worst. Jim can’t help but smirk at his handiwork.

“What the hell are you doing back on my ship and who the hell is this man?” McCoy starts yelling as soon as JIm steps on the bridge. Jim wrestles his arm away from Cupcake.

“Well, wouldn’t you like to know?”

McCoy shoots Jim a withering look before pouncing on Scotty. “Are you a member of Starfleet.”

Scott shuffles awkwardly. “Aye. Can I get a towel?” He gestures to his soaking wet clothes, a result of ending up in a water holding tank.

“How did you get aboard this ship?”

“Don’t tell him anything, Scotty.” Jim pipes up.

“I’m acting captain, dammit.”

Jim suddenly understands how to get Leonard out of The Chair. “And yet, here you are. About to let your own planet perish in the same way as Vulcan.”

McCoy’s nostrils flair and he sets his jaw ever more stiffly than before. “I am following orders, upon which we will be able to come up with a plan using the most capable minds in the fleet.” He smirks at Jim. “That does not include you, Cadet Kirk.”

Jim chooses his next words carefully, not allowing any of his true emotions to be displayed on his face as he sneers back at McCoy. “Don’t you have anyone waiting for you back there? Or are you really as cold and alone as they all say?” He steps closer to McCoy, completely invading his personal space, and places his hands tightly on his commanding officer’s hips. “Don’t you have anyone to hold you at night?” He whispers hotly into his ear. “Is there no one who runs their hands over all those muscles? No one to make you scream?”

McCoy flushes bright red and tries to pull away. “I-you have no idea what you are-you can’t talk to me like that on my bridge, dammi-”

Jim pulls McCoy to him with a suddenly firm grip. He presses every inch of his body against the Captain’s before finally connecting their lips. He kisses him as best he can, rolling his hips slightly and giving everything he typically saves for those who get him behind closed doors. He can’t do his best, though, considering McCoy’s lack of compliance.

Except, suddenly, Leonard’s lips are moving against Jim’s and for a few glorious seconds, it’s dirty and hot. Jim is suddenly and unceremoniously pushed away and he nearly falls over, light headed from the kiss. Leonard is all flushed cheeks and swollen lips. It turns Jim on to no end before he remembers why he did that to McCoy in the first place.

Then McCoy is seething, breathing heavily through his nose and opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. It reminds Jim of the older McCoy back on Delta Vega. Jim grins. McCoy turns to Spock.

“Doctor, I am afraid I have suffered some emotional trauma due to the loss of Pike and Vulcan. I am not mentally capable right now. I am putting in a recommendation to retire to quarters until I am rested and under control.” McCoy’s voice is level and steady. His eyes, however, betray his fury and confusion.

Spock raises and eyebrow and straightens his back even more than Jim thought possible. “I must agree, Captain. If you need any medical assistance, I will be readily available.”

McCoy stalks off the bridge and Jim stops smirking immediately. “Mr. Sulu, set a course for Earth.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Captain?” Spock questions.

“Pike made him Jim first officer just before he left.” Sulu explains.

Uhura stands and shakes her head ruefully. “Well, now we’re all going to die.”

-

McCoy rejoins them on the bridge just as Spock is verifying Chekov’s calculations. Jim is worried for a moment that he’ll try to take back the ship, but he doesn’t. He nods at Spock and Chekov. “I think this plan is the only chance we’ve got.”

So they do the craziest shit Jim’s ever seen done with a starship and it works, miraculously.It works and he can barely breathe when it comes time for the rest of the plan to go into action.

He beams over to the Narada. He insists on Spock joining him and McCoy only questions it for a moment before accepting it and insisting that he join them.

Jim wants to say no, wants to order McCoy to stay but he’s not sure exactly how far his small bit of power over McCoy can extend, so McCoy joins them. Spock follows Jim’s orders to get to old Spock’s ship before he and McCoy take off to find Pike together. They encounter a few Romulans before they can, though, and there is a small shootout.

They spilt up and Jim runs as fast as his legs can carry him, his heart pounding so hard he thinks he might vomit. This is the ship his father died crashing into.

Nero finds him and Jim’s life flashes before his eyes as his trachea is effectively crushed under the Romulan strength after a thorough beating. 

The only cognizant thought he has is that he’s going to die at the same hands as his father and he didn’t, couldn’t, do better.

Not that Pike will be able to be disappointed because Jim didn’t, couldn’t, find him.

“Kirk! Get off him, dammit!” Nero is suddenly falling on top of Jim, face frozen into a look of surprise and cruelty. Jim shoves the weight off of him and he straightens himself up, looking around for the voice and the phaser. His eyes land on McCoy and he breathes a sigh of relief. “Come on, you idiot! Spock, are you ready?” He speaks into his comm impatiently and JIm realizes McCoy is supporting a mostly limp Pike.

Jim rushes forward to help him carry Pike as he listens to Spock’s answer. 

Jim’s heart pounds so loudly in his ears that he can hardly hear McCoy’s “Three to beam up, Scotty, dammit. Get Spock, too.”

Gold and white swirls. Jim feels Pike shudder and suddenly they are back on the Enterprise. Spock and Christine Chapel take the captain from them and Scotty whoops and hollers with glee. Jim and Leonard race to the bridge where a now-conscious Nero is on the screen, looking worse for wear.

In the end, Jim offers Nero mercy, which is refused vehemently and the Romulan ship that haunted Jim’s dreams for twenty five years is gone in an instant. Jim takes a breath and it feels like the first one in years.

They have to eject the warp core in order to escape the black hole, so they require a tow from another ship. After that it’s a whirlwind of press and debriefing and madness and Jim doesn’t get the chance to corner McCoy.

He sees him for a split second when he gets his captaincy, but when he tries to chase him down, the older man practically sprints away.

-

“You don’t want me, kid. Promise.”

Jim sits next to Leonard on the bench. “Don’t try and tell me what I want, Bones.”

Leonard looks at him sideways. “Bones? What the hell is Bones?” A ghost of a smile graces his face.

“It’s a nickname, is what it is.” Jim puts on a fake grumbly southern accent. “That Romulan will break every Bone in your body.”

Leonard laughs and people pass by them in the park with wide eyes. The dynamic duo that saved the Earth sitting on a park bench and talking like old friends.

Jim stares at Leo for a while before a question pops into his mind. “Why do you say I don’t want you?”

Leonard looks genuinely surprised by this question and he shrugs. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard the story through the grapevine.”

“What story?” Jim sits up straighter and looks Leonard in the eye. “You don’t have to tell me, but I want to know, I care.”

“I was going to be a doctor, just like my father, Jim.” Leonard begins. “I was going to school at University of Mississippi and at nineteen, I could not have been happier with my life. I was at my dream school, studying to do the job I had always dreamed of. I was engaged to the girl of my dreams. She was four years older than me and she was just about to get her PhD in childhood psych. She was a genius and she was mine.” He looks up at Jim, his eyes watery. “We were supposed to be happy, to have kids, to have everything be peachy but then Tarsus happened.”

Jim stiffens and he hopes to God that Leonard doesn’t notice, and he doesn’t seem to, instead continuing with his story. “She wasn’t ever part of Starfleet. They recruited her for one mission because they needed someone young and smart and qualified to handle a very ‘sensitive case.’ The leader of the Children’s Revolution on Tarsus, the kid who saved so many. They needed to get him out before they started publicly removing people and Kodos started killing them faster and there was mass panic. So they sent her over there to deal with this thirteen year old kid.” He pauses and runs a hand over his face. “But there was so much disease on Tarsus, mutated, crazy disease that came with famine and pestilence and blood in the streets. She helped the kid for a while and she got him out but she also got sick. She got really sick and died painfully in a few weeks. I was alone after that. So, I packed my bags, dropped out of med school, and jumped on a shuttle to San Fransisco.”

Jim stares at him for a long while and it feels like an eternity before he can get the name past his lips. “Jocelyn.” He whispers it reverently.

“How do you know her name?” McCoy studies him closely. “I know I didn’t say her name.”

“I was there. I was thirteen and I was there. It was a nightmare and I had to hold her hand and watch another person I cared about die. She was great. She was like an older sister to me and I watched the woman who saved me die.” He shakes his head. “But you have to move on. You cannot think that because of scars that are so old, no one will want you. Because I do.”

Leonard looks at him and frowns, disbelief evident on his face. “No, you-”

“Yes, I do. I saw you on that ship. I saw your dedication and talent. I have seen you do amazing things and deal with publicity crap. I want you because I don’t deserve you, but you could make me better, I know.” Jim cover’s Leonard’s hand with his own. “Please, let me have you. You can have me. Pretty sure you already do.”

Leonard smiles a small, private smile and pecks Jim on the lips. “I can’t promise it’ll be easy, but I can promise to try my damndest to be better.”

-

"Captain Kirk, engineering reports ready for launch." Leonard smiles at Jim, who grins giddily as he strokes the arms of the captain's chair fondly.

"Well, then, Sulu, take her out. It's time to do this. Ready, Bones?"

"Ready."

"Ready Spock?"

"I am prepared for our mission, Captain."

"Let's do this."

**Author's Note:**

> feedback is appreciated!  
> tumblr:fabtrek


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